child care

Testimony of Shana Bartley, Acting Executive Director DC Action for Children Agency Budget Oversight Hearing Fiscal Year 2019 Office of the State Superintendent of Education Before the Committee on Education Council of the District of Columbia April 24, 2018 Good morning, Councilmember Grosso and members of the Committee on Education. Thank you for the opportunity to address the Council as...

Testimony of Shana Bartley, Acting Executive Director DC Action for Children Agency Performance Oversight Hearing Fiscal Year 2016-2017 Office of the State Superintendent of Education Before the Committee on Education Council of the District of Columbia February 14, 2017 Good morning, Councilmember Grosso and members of the Committee on Education. Thank you for the opportunity to address the Council as...

Listening to the excellent NPR series on child care has brought the struggle that many DC parents face to manage the steep cost of child care to the forefront of my mind. A new poll from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that nearly one-third of parents paying for early care...

Over the past year, a number of news articles have drawn attention to the steep cost of child care, which in the District is now more than three times as expensive as in-state college tuition. Despite the amount spent by parents and a sizeable public investment (the District’s child care subsidy reimbursement rates are among the highest in the country),...

Does anyone remember Phyllis Schlafly? I wish the answer were no, but unfortunately the shrill voice of this crusading anti-feminist from the 80s is still being channeled by Tea Party and conservative leaders who rail against the "Nanny State." Also, she is out with a book. One of Schlafly's main contributions to society was her vicious attack on aid to...

My colleague, Aparna, who has a nearly two-year-old daughter in child care, reminded me today of an interesting situation that often happens in early childhood: separation anxiety. As a former preschool teacher, I know the scenario very well. Parents often establish a daily routine for dropping off their children at child care or preschool, routines varying from child to child,...

“Going for the Gold” in the District’s child care system not only means striving for quality in early care and education, it also means getting reimbursed at a higher rate from the government. It’s the name of D.C.’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) for child care, which ranks providers as either Gold, Silver or Bronze centers based on their...

When I was three months pregnant I started my search. At the time I wanted the best quality care for my unborn child anticipating that I would go back to work full-time. I was looking for accredited centers with bright and beautiful space, but most importantly caring and patient teachers. I only wanted the very best for my child. I...

If you're a single parent with an infant in the DC metro area, you need to make at least $57,000 to feel economically secure. That's according to a report released yesterday by the local organization Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW). I don't doubt that many people reading this post swallowed hard when they read that. How many jobs today pay...

The Washington Post had an article this week that left me scratching my head. The story, " D.C. day-care licensing criticized ," was ostensibly about would-be child care providers complaining about the barriers to entry to opening a licensed community or home-based child care center in the District. One of the women profiled lives with four young foster children, her...